Do you remember that thing about how the banks wouldn't lend to blacks and Hispanics because they were racists? And do you remember how they passed the Community Reinvestment Act so that banks were forced to reduce down payments practically to zero and lend to a lot of people they knew were bad credit risks? And do you remember how Wall Street bundled all these risky subprime mortgage and sold them to investors around the world so that when it became clear that those people weren't going to be able to pay their mortgages banks everywhere were left holding the bag and all five of the Wall Street investment houses either went under or had to be bailed out by the federal government?

And do you remember how, when it was all over, liberals said it was actually the banks' fault for "deceiving" all those people into thinking they could afford to buy homes and that the banks should be punished for it and some of those people be allowed to keep their homes anyway? And do you remember how all this cost the government close to a trillion dollars and put the whole economy in a hole that we really haven't begun to dig ourselves out of yet?

Well, get ready because the whole thing is about to happen again.

...

I think what we are witnessing is the looting of America on behalf of minorities in a way that better end soon or we are going to bring the whole system down upon our heads.

With the current administration in power, the perception is growing among minorities that everything in the economy is rigged against them but that President Obama and his administration are going to solve everything for them.

All in a plan, destroy the housing market for redistribution purposes
NJ political criminals issued fed monies to purchase forclosed homes and relocate, drug dealers, sex offenders, convicts and alike into suburban forclosed homes. I predicted this scam early, I said forclosed homes would be bought up by the feds for redistribution purposes, another way around the community reinvestment act. Taxpayerminute.com

And wasn’t CBS’s “Sixty Minutes,” the Leftists’ mouthpiece, the catalyst for Congress to “do something” about the EVIL practice of “red-lining” in the ghettos? In their Special Report, EVIL banks were damned for refusing to loan mortgage money to people who couldn’t afford a house.

Naturally, the Democrats sprang into action, threatning the banks that were so racist and passing legislation that made taxpayers the co-signers to these bad loans.

The rest is history....a history that the Left is furiously trying to rewrite after the collapse of the housing market that so negatively affected the rest of the economy.

The bank will have to "prominently display" a notice informing minority customers that they cannot be turned down for loans just because they are receiving public assistance such as unemployment benefits, welfare payments or food stamps. (Maybe they can even use food stamps for the down payment.) Wells Fargo must provide minority customers $50 million for down-payment and closing-cost assistance, including "Borrower Assistance Grants" of up to $15,000 per individual.

15
posted on 07/27/2012 6:28:52 AM PDT
by listenhillary
(Courts, law enforcement, roads and national defense should be the extent of government)

I strongly believe the purpose of this activity by the Communist enemies within the structure of our system of governance is to destroy the capitalist system.

Bankrupting this government, this Nation, this beautiful flower is their goal. They believe that from the compost of what was that beautiful flower of freedom, and liberty the weed that is collectivism, the weed that is Communism will grow, and in their minds flourish as they will be the all powerful whom of course know better than even GOD how to rule the World.

16
posted on 07/27/2012 6:30:55 AM PDT
by rockinqsranch
(Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will, they ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)

"The bank will have to "prominently display" a notice informing minority customers that they cannot be turned down for loans just because they are receiving public assistance such as unemployment benefits, welfare payments or food stamps. (Maybe they can even use food stamps for the down payment.)"

ONLY minority customers? This is unconcealed discrimination! Apparently, a white person on food stamps need not be considered, but a "minority" in the same situation must be considered.

So, it's apparently ONLY illegal to discriminate against a "minority" (a.k.a. race hustler), but perfectly ok to discriminate against anybody else.

It is the fault of the banks FOR NOT STANDING UP AGAINST A DISHONEST PRACTICE. This Administration is as dishonest as the day is long. This DOJ is as racially prejudiced as Hitler. This AG is both. When will the shareholders force the issue. class-action case against the banks’ boards is in order?

I think you nail it. Nobody is punished for crime anymore...except the peasants. If you are an elected official (esp and Dem), you just wait it out, call it racist or politically motivated, and you are good to go.

The reason corruption is so rampant is because nobody has any fear of being punished (Look at Rangel and Waters). If we eased restrictive business policies, cut taxes and made sure that all who cheated to get more were punished to the point of regret, all would be just fine.

Equal protection under the Law is on a holiday.

21
posted on 07/27/2012 7:14:29 AM PDT
by my small voice
(A biased media and an uneducated populace is the biggest threat to our nation.)

Ive often thought we were way too soft on white collar crime myself. Thieves who sit behind desks steal more than thieves who hold up liquor stores. _____ If I remember correctly it was Al Capone who stated that You can steal more money with a pencil than a gun, Things havent changed any that I can see,

RE :”Yes, believe it or not, the federal government is now starting another initiative to force banks to lend to low-credit-rated blacks and Hispanics — not just anybody but specifically blacks and Hispanics — and is threatening — and already imposing — huge punitive fines if they don't. Moreover, this time they're going even further. They're going to take over the credit rating agencies and force them to change their standards to accommodate blacks and Hispanics so that nobody will have any idea who is a bad credit risk and who is not. In so many words, the government is about impose its will on the whole home-lending market and force another round of bad loans so that the banks are going to be looted once again so that even the federal government may not be able to bail them out this time........... The principle instrument this time is not the Justice Department, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as it was last time, but the brand-new Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, designed by good old Elizabeth “Nobody-Ever-Made-It-On-Their-Own” Warren, which should really be called the Bureau for Bringing Down the Entire Economy. As reported in last Sunday's New York Post by Hoover Institution Media Fellow Paul Sperry, the CFPB has just announced that it is adopting a 20-page “Policy Statement on Discrimination in Lending” issues by the Interagency Task force on Fair Lending in 1994 that kicked off Attorney General Janet Reno's draconic enforcement of the Community Renewal Act. Part of the policy statement reads, “Applying different lending standards or offering different levels of assistance to applicants who are members of a protected [i.e., minority] class is permissible in some circumstances. Providing different treatment to applicants to address past discrimination would be permissible if done in response to a court order.” There are already plenty of court orders sitting around. .......Just two weeks ago Wells Fargo caved to a Justice Department offensive and paid $175 million for alleged past discriminating against minority borrowers. All this occurred even though the bank received an "outstanding" grade in its most recent Community Reinvestment Act exam. The government did not even bother to prove discrimination in a single instance but relied instead on statistics showing lower rates of homeownership in minority neighborhoods. Thomas Perez, the Justice Department honcho who is spearheading this campaign, says banks discriminate "with a smile" and "fine print" and are "every bit as destructive as the cross burned in a neighborhood." Nice objective evaluation there. As in most such cases, Wells Fargo chickened out about going to court and refused to admit any wrongdoing but agreed to all kinds of diversity training and sensitivity counseling. The bank will have to “prominently display” a notice informing minority customers that they cannot be turned down for loans just because they are receiving public assistance such as unemployment benefits, welfare payments or food stamps. (Maybe they can even use food stamps for the down payment.) Wells Fargo must provide minority customers $50 million for down-payment and closing-cost assistance, including “Borrower Assistance Grants” of up to $15,000 per individual. It was also ordered to pay $125 million to as yet unnamed victims of previous discrimination. But get this! If those past victims don't show up, the money must be handed over to community organizing groups. President Obama, you have a job waiting for you if you lose office this fall.’

CRA is back ping. Chilling stuff.

I have to question the part about the Warren Consumer Protection Agency taking over the credit ratings. I dont see how they can even punish the agencies for their ratings let alone take them over.

Is the House investigating this?

25
posted on 07/27/2012 8:13:29 AM PDT
by sickoflibs
(Romney is still a liberal. Just watch him. (Obama-ney Care ))

It is worse than that; the government put a gun to the banks heads to force them to lend to unqualified minority borrowers, then accused them of deceiving those same people.

It's a trick that's worked for decades. When a political fad becomes embarrassing, in many cases because it sanctions evil, the politicos and pampered pets duck out and blame the scapegoat - and hope that everyone forgets their own participation in said fad.

With the housing it fell apart in a few years, not decades; it quickly became clear WHY banks had refused to lend to many people.

I looked at the link; I’m not familiar with that story. I know many Americans (more so at the time of WWI) never comprehended how many Americans come from German descent (having nothing to do with politics). It is the main reason the United States has no official language; there were so many Germans in Washngton’s army. Here in northern NJ many ironworkers were imported prior to the American Revolution.

But the default process will leave them and us with much smaller government and no money for them to rule the world. Watch other governments that have recently repudiated debt to various extents, including so-called “haircuts” for bond investors.

And that’s the fear of political folks on every side. Even most of those who claim to be conservative are getting their incomes directly or indirectly from government debt (more leaning toward continuing federal funding and tax/fee hikes for state and local government socialism for those labeling themselves as conservatives). They want to keep their incomes going today, for now, and the only way to do that is to continue the debt game.

We’re witnessing the fall of the political/regulator class, left and right. The only future hope for the bipartisan socialists is in small shop manufacturers, where real revenues come from. But they’re immoral and won’t allow real “males” to run real domestic businesses (zoning, many other regulations).

At this point, it should be fairly easy to create a political ad that states (or implies) that Democrats are attacking our economy and our way of life. They have truly become the anti-American party. Will the GOP have the stones to do this? Probably not.

34
posted on 07/27/2012 10:02:40 AM PDT
by Major Matt Mason
("Journalism is dead. All news is suspect." - Noamie)

The good news is if property values momentarily spike (which they will just before it collapses again), I can sell off my rental, pay off my home with the profit, and be debt free. Two mortgages gone with one bad decision from the government.

35
posted on 07/27/2012 10:30:13 AM PDT
by dsrtsage
(One half of all people have below average IQ. In the US the number is 54%)

Ive often thought we were way too soft on white collar crime myself. Thieves who sit behind desks steal more than thieves who hold up liquor stores. _____ If I remember correctly it was Al Capone who stated that You can steal more money with a pencil than a gun, Things havent changed any that I can see,

Only now you can wield that pencil globally.

Silly bird! Nooses are for politicians.

37
posted on 07/27/2012 1:35:51 PM PDT
by OneWingedShark
(Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)

THE CONGRESSMAN AND THE SUBPRIME DEBACLE (how the US economy was devastated)

FACT SOURCE--EDITED EXCERPTS New York Times report: Lawmakers generosity on big corporations' tab. Copyright 2012 stltoday.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif 43rd) has achieved near celebrity status in his suburban LA district, as much for his record of giveaways  turkeys, scholarships, boots for firefighters  as for anything he has done in the US Congress.

Baca's generosity is made possible by The Joe Baca Foundation, a so-called "charity" he and his family set up circa 2008 under the pretext of "aiding" local organizations. The Joe Baca Foundation is run out of the family residence by Baca's son at a publicized salary of $51,800 (could be more, much more and could include numerous perks, credit cards, expense accounts, cars, free $5 gas fillups, health benefits, and so on). NOTE: Running a foundation out of a residence usually allows the resident to evade real estate taxes.

Perhaps nowhere is the mixing of charitable and political agendas more evident than with Baca's family-run The Joe Baca Foundation. Foundation's key function is to help the self-serving Democrat and Latino separatist run a near-permanent political campaign. Joe Baca T-shirts and caps are given out at district events, where banners display Baca's name. Local newspapers highlight The Joe Baca Foundations donations, and TV stations run appearances by Baca and his family at these "charitable" functions---amounting to free publicity for Baca's election campaigns .

Baca benefits from the good will corporate-financed philanthropy generates among his voting base b/c very little of the money to finance The Joe Baca Foundation's high-profile activities comes out of Bacas pocket.

Instead, Baca appears to be engaged in multiple sub rosa activities----exchanging donations from local companies and major corporations in exchange for easy access to him. Baca's foundation donors step to the head of the line when needing Baca's assistance, and usually succeed in getting his Washington office to get the job done.

The Foundation prefers not to call attention to its finances, usually underplaying its size and influence, but the list of The Joe Baca Foundation corporate donors and supporter serves almost like a road map to Bacas major legislative actions in Congress.

<><>Coca-Cola donated $40,000 as it prepared to fight a proposal to prohibit the use of food stamps to buy sugary sodas, an issue before the Congressional agriculture subcommittee conveniently headed by Cong Joe Baca.

<><>The Lewis Group of Companies, a local development firm and a frequent sponsor of The Joe Baca Foundation events, will start construction on a 2,000-unit housing project built on land that Cong Joe Baca helped deliver by steering legislation through Congress to close the Rialto Municipal Airport, the current occupant.

<><> Baca secured an infamous Congrressional earmark in the amount of $500,000 for Telacu, a local housing group that donates to The Joe Baca Foundation.

<><> Another donor to The Joe Baca Foundation is Rentech, a California-based biofuels company that wants to build a new fuel plant in Bacas district. After it made two donations, Bacas son, who serves on the Rialto City Council (after losing reelction to the Calif state Assembly), voted to endorse federal tax dollars for the project. Eeven before the company had completed the local environmental permit reviews, Cong Baca sent a letter to the US Energy Department on his office stationery urging approval of the federal financial assistance.

Cong Bacas Washington office declined to address reporter's questions about the foundation, or about positions the congressman has taken that appear to benefit donors. They do a lot of great work, said Stephen Wall, a spokesman for Baca, referring to The Joe Baca Foundation. But as far as what we do, it is separate. Bacas son, who is paid to handle administrative matters at the Joe Baca Foundation, said many of the other donors were small California businesses with no issues before lawmakers in Washington.We have always been about giving back, Baca, Jr said.

A 2009 Wall Street Journal investigative report WRT the subprime mortgage borrowing spree that wreaked havoc on the US economy reveals that----according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, financial schemes by low-income housing groups, Hispanic lawmakers, a congressional Hispanic housing initiative, subprime mortgage lenders and brokers, colluded together in fradulent schemes to increase homeownership among Latinos using falsified applications, and other tricks of the trade.

The massive mortgage fraud ended in disaster for which no one has been held responsible. Taxpayers got saddled with billions of dollars in bailout bills.

These subprime activities were not simply the mortgage market at work. They were fueled by avarice, greed, stupidity--all enabled by Congressmen and other groups which leave a trail at the door of Cong Joe Baca.

Between 2000 and 2009, Hispanic populations increased; but Hispanic home ownership grew even faster, increasing by 47%, to 6.1 million from 4.1 million, according to the US Census Bureau. Over that same period, homeownership nationally grew by an enemic 8%. In 2005 alone, mortgages to Hispanics jumped by 29%; Latinos with multiple fraudulent identities in low-paying jobs obtainedg costly non-prime mortgages---soaring to a shocking 169%, (Research provided by Wall Street Journal)

The subprime mortgage bank fraud network was spearheaded by Cong Joe Baca (D-Calif 43rd), in his powerful position as chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Baca's district ranks No.5 among all US Congressional districts in percentage of home loans tailored to sub-prime borrowers.

Baca used his the legislative power of his office and his leadership position in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to calculatedly launch a housing initiative called "HOGAR"-- Spanish for home. The entities engaged in conspiracies to collude with industry and community groups to increase mortgage lending to Latinos--knowing full well forged fraudulent identities and fasified mortgage applications were being used.

Mortgage lenders---lured by huge profits---eagerly provided funding to Baca's group, and fielded an army to bestow with mortgage loans on unquaified lations which were destined for default.

In years past, minority borrowers seeking loans were often stopped because banks and mortgage companies with sound business practices were reluctant to lend within particular low-income geographical areas. This reasonable business practice was mischaracterized as "racialist" as a way to intimidate lenders.

However, the soundness of the earlier business practices resonated as the subprime financial devastation began to wreak havoc on the nation's economy. Taxpayers were saddled with monstrous bills as defaults reached stratospheric heights.

Cong Baca's modus operandi and his collusive efforts to open the mortgage pipeline to unqualified borrowers proved highly successful.

BACA ORGANIZES A close look at the network Cong Baca organized, pushing for increased mortgage lending to unquaified buyers reveals a disturbing picture.

<><> HOGAR-—the initiative to promote Latino homeownership-—was created by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Inc., a non-profit entity founded and run by Baca and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus along with corporate and nonprofit representatives.

<><>Subprime-industry executives got in early, as advisers to “HOGAR” bankrolled more than $2 million of HOGAR’s flawed research (NOTE so-called “research money” could have been laundered into Baca-related entities).

<><>Lawmakers and latino advocacy groups pushed hard to weaken credit criteria that inexorably led to the subprime debacle.

<><>Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who received donations from the lending industry, stood idly by as their constituents moved into new homes bought with fraudulent documents and fasified mortgage apps. The lawmen had undermined US law by pushing for eased lending standards, which led to massive foreclosures, tax burdens, and UNTOLD DAMAGE TO THE US economy.

The Congressional Hispanic Institute, Inc, created by Baca’s Congressional Hispanic Caucus created “HOGAR” in 2003 to work with industry and community groups to increase mortgage lending to unqualified Latinos.

At that time, Baca hyped the fact that the national Latino homeownership rate was 47%, compared with 68% for the overall population. “HOGAR” called the figure “alarming,” and said a concerted effort was required to ensure that “by the end of the decade Latinos will share equally in
the American Dream of home ownership.”

Most of the “dreamers” were citizens of Third World countries who had violated US borders.

Predictably, HOGAR’s backers included mortgage companies that ran into big trouble: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both now under federal control after billions in taxpayer bailouts; Countrywide Financial Corp., sold to Bank of America Corp.; Washington Mutual Inc., taken over by the US government and sold to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; and New Century Financial Corp. and Ameriquest Mortgage Corp, both now defunct, killed by unpaid Latino mortgages.

HOGAR’s ties to the subprime industry were substantial. A Washington Mutual Bank vice president served as chairman of its advisory committee.

Bribery and self-dealing was rampant. Companies that donated $150,000 to Cong Baca got the right to place a research fellow who would conduct HOGAR’s fraudulent studies, which were used by industry lobbyists. For donations to Baca of $100,000 a year, HOGAR offered to provide optimistic news releases from Baca’s Hispanic Caucus promoting a lender’s commercial products for the Latino market, a shocking example of bribery well-substantitated by the group’s literature.

“HOGAR” worked with Freddie Mac on a self-serving two-year examination of Latino homeownership in 63 congressional districts.

The study found Hispanic ownership on the rise thanks to “new flexible mortgage loan products” that the industry was adopting at the urging of Cong Baca’s coterie. HOGAR recommended further easing of down-payment and underwriting standards.

However, as the subprime debacle ensued, representatives for HOGAR declined repeated requests for comment despite the economic havoc their activities precipitated.

<><>In October 2008, a charitable foundation set up by Baca received $25,000 from AmeriDream Inc, a so-called " nonprofit" housing program (did AmeriDream get earmarks?).

<><> AmeriDream's activities included providing down-payment money to unqualified buyers, a cost that was covered by home builders in the form of "donations" to the nonprofit. (NOTE Such loans--known as bridge loans--are considered illegal.) New housing legislation circa 2009 outlawed the program.

<><> Undeterred, Baca then co-sponsored a bill that would allow AmeriDream and similar nonprofits to resume arranging illegal seller-financed down-payment assistance to low-income latino FHA borrowers. Such seller-financed loans to latinos comprise one-third of the loans backed by the FHA, and have defaulted at nearly triple the rate of other FHA-insured loans, according to FHA's William Glavin.

In a self-serving news release, the latino mortgage facilitator----AmeriDream---said its "donation" to The Joe Baca Foundation was intended to "fund the purchase of gear for firefighters" in Baca's district.

<><> Local news reports say the Joe Baca Foundation gave away a measly $36,000 in scholarships in 2009.

Cong Baca's office declined to comment on the AmeriDream contribution. Baca remains resolutely opposed to strict lending rules (especially since taxpayers are saddled with the billions in mortgage defaults). "We nhighly eed to keep credit easily accessible to our minority communities," Baca said in a statement released by his office.

IRS records indicate that Baca's son, Joe Baca Jr, pockets an annual salary of $51,800 as executive director of The Joe Baca Foundation, which is run out of the congressman's Caifornia home. Joe Baca Jr. insisted he takes half of the salary listed by the IRS. No word on the amount Baca Jr pays taxes on.

Mortgage lending to Hispanics took off between 2004 and 2007, powered by nonprime loans. The biggest jump occurred in 2005. The 169% increase in nonprime mortgages to Hispanics that year outpaced a 122% gain for blacks, and a 110% increase for whites, according to a Journal analysis of mortgage-industry and federal-housing data.

Nonprime mortgages carry high interest rates and are tailored to borrowers with low credit scores or few assets. Between 2004 and 2007, black borrowers were offere nonprime loans at a slightly higher rate than Hispanics, but the overall number of Hispanic borrowers was much larger. From 2004 to 2005, thanks to Baca, total nonprime home loans to Hispanics more than tripled to $69 billion from $19 billion, and peaked in 2006 at $73 billion.

It comes as no surprise that the race-based "La Raza" was given tax dollars and Congressionsl earmarks to finance its mortgage activities. La Raza's "strategic partnerships with Wachovia and Bank of America forced the lowering mortgage-application requirements and documentation standards. La Raza aided and abetted risky federal and private-home loans to latinos over the last decade thanks to the lending industrys version of dont ask, dont tell.

In addition to millions of federal rax dollars, La Raza also collected a $1 million Democratic earmark that funded community-development projects. Analysts report that much of it went to "mortgage counseling." Baca is quiet about his role in (a) financing, and, (b) earmarking La Raza.

You assume that banks are using racism to keep blacks and other minorities from getting homes. If that was the case you would be correct.

However, the problem with your logic is that most banks comply with the CRA, where the Justice Department brings down their hammer as in the recent case with Wells Fargo was that blacks and other minorities were being charged higher fees and interest rates, even if their credit and income was close to the same.

Therefore is lending is flowing to minorities but banks are charging them more. While some racism does exist in the system, I think a majoritity of these charges show up because of a lack of knowledge by the borrowers not because of some overt racism.

You assume that banks are using racism to keep blacks and other minorities from getting homes. If that was the case you would be correct.

However, the problem with your logic is that most banks comply with the CRA, where the Justice Department brings down their hammer as in the recent case with Wells Fargo was that blacks and other minorities were being charged higher fees and interest rates, even if their credit and income was close to the same.

Therefore is lending is flowing to minorities but banks are charging them more. While some racism does exist in the system, I think a majoritity of these charges show up because of a lack of knowledge by the borrowers not because of some overt racism.

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